DL Nelson is an American-born Swiss writer and journalist. Visit her website www.donnalanenelson.com

Friday, May 12, 2017

The battle continues

FATCA is the agreement that the US has bullied countries into accepting where banks/insurance companies/investment house are required to report American accounts to the US government which fears that people are hiding money.

Also affected is any business where an American can sign off on a bank account and any organization. If an American is married to a foreigner the non-American spouse's info is also reported to the IRS.

Failure for the banks/insurance companies/investment house means huge fines and the possibility of being shut out of the international banking system.Banks and employers have a solution. Don't do business with American expats and that includes accidental Americans (people who had the misfortune to be born in the US and leave as babies/children or those born of an American parent overseas whether or not they have any continuing connection to the US. They are hunted down.)

This leaves a potential 8.7 million expats with no way to bank, have mortgages, save for retirement. Employers have no way to pay them. Not all the bad things have happened yet, but each day more and more expats are being caught up in this lawCountries have been told to change their privacy law and they've caved.In Canada a lawsuit was thrown out. The 30th is when a US judge will decide whether to issue an injunction against the end of the month injunction on FATCA, but the US said they will delay the formalities if the countries demand it.It is a bad law. I am not going to go into the fact that the US and Eritrea are the countries that have Citizen Based Taxation and for CBT the Eritrean ambassador was thrown out of Canada and the UN has condemned the practice for the African country. Well, okay I just did go into.More important it hurts Americans who live outside the US borders making ordinary financial lives impossible.Unless something is done, it will get worse before it gets better.